


Better Than In The Middle

by bluestargirl6 (pressdbtwnpages)



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-07-29
Updated: 2005-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-04 14:44:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pressdbtwnpages/pseuds/bluestargirl6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>He ran away when he heard the news, as all scared little boys do.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Than In The Middle

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for 1x22. Also, while this fic contains characters from and references to _The O.C._ it focuses on Logan Echolls and therefore I do not consider it a crossover.

He ran away when he heard the news, as all scared little boys do. Excessively wealthy, angry teenage boy he was, he ran away to a $1,000 dollar a week resort on Mexico's pacific coast, visions of tequila and bikini clad women dancing in his head.

His tequila dreams came true anyway.

******

Logan tipped the bellman extra and headed for the poolside bar before even glancing at his new digs.

After his third straight shot the bartender asked, "You want to talk about it, amigo?"

"No, amigo," Logan snarled. "I want another shot."

******

Someone was stroking his hair and rubbing his liquor addled head calling him "pobrecito" , had been for awhile. Logan found it very soothing until he was conscious enough to realize that a housekeeper was hovering over him, playing nanny.

"Get away." the demand came out a whimper.

"Oh, pobrecito," A damp cloth took the place of a hand on Logan's forehead.

"Get away from me!" He snapped. The woman froze, hands still entwined in Logan's sweaty hair, but made no move to retreat.

"Do you not fucking understand English bitch?" He screamed with all of the energy he could muster. "Get the hell away from me!"

Logan fell back into unconscious oblivion to the sound of his door slamming shut.

******

When Logan awoke to the dawning of a new day, bright shafts of light slipping under the cracks of blackout drapes, he couldn't muster the energy to do much of anything at all.

He slept a lot. Ordered room service, gourmet hand-tossed pizza that would have been the best he'd ever tasted if he gave half a damn. Gazed out at the windows at his private piece of coastline. Moped ambiguously with the teenage ability to vaguely hate everything without settling on any specific target.

******

His third day in Mexico, Logan decided everything was fucking bullshit and stormed down to the beach determined to have fun because he was rich and hot and young and dammit the world was his.

The waves sucked for surfing, probably why the hotel didn't even bother stocking boards. Boogie Boarding wasn't a much better option on the mellow, mellow ocean, but Logan knew he was a clever guy and made due.

A few failed attempts at standing, or even trying to kneel on the board speckled his afternoon activities and Logan came out of the water a much more pleasant guy than he went in.

"You surf?" The hotel guy, whose name tag read 'Alex', asked as Logan handed in his board.

"Yeah."

"Waves suck here."

"Noticed."

The guy nodded and scribbled something on a piece of paper. There's a beach on the other side of the point. Nice waves. Kind of intense though." He handed Logan the paper. "It's a good idea to bring some friends with you."

"Don't have any. Thanks for this," Logan waved the piece of paper and set off towards the hotel.

"Hey, man!"

It was the fact that the guy called him 'man' that made Logan stop and turn. Three days in Mexico and Logan was already sick of the false intimacy of being everyone's "amigo". He was not the bell boy's buddy, the bartender's confidant, the room service guy's best friend.

"Yeah?"

"Me and some buddies are going out there after work. Be there around six and you're welcome to chill with us."

"I don't have a board."

"I'm sure I can scrounge up a spare." The guy extended a hand. "I'm Alejandro."

"Logan." He waited a beat and indicated the guy's nametag. "I thought your name was Alex?"

"The hotel thought Alex was a more approachable name. Less intimidating to tourists." Logan snorted. "My thoughts exactly."

*******

The cab driver refused to leave Logan at the deserted, overgrown beach.

"Please senor, cabs do not come this way. You will not be able to get back."

"I'm fine," Logan forced himself to add, "thank you."

"I insist senor, I cannot leave you here. It is not safe off the road. And the jungle is close. The animals will be out when it gets dark."

"I don't plan on being here when it gets dark."

The cab driver glanced at his rolled up towel and still damp swim trunks. "The hotel has a very nice beach. You would enjoy that more."

"I'm meeting friends here." Logan's broad smile masked gritted teeth.

"Friends? Here? That's no good senor. No good. This is a locals beach. Locals more dangerous than," the cab driver glanced furtively over his shoulder, "jungle animals."

Logan flatly refused to get back into the cab and the driver just as flatly refused to drive away. They stood at an impasse for fifteen minutes until Alex arrived, assured the cab driver that he personally would look after Logan and drive him back to the hotel once they were done.

******

Paddling out past the shore break Alex introduced Logan to his friends, most of whom worked at the hotel. At this information Logan snorted and suggested snidely that maybe next time they should all carpool from the actual hotel at which they all spent the day. The suggestion was roundly ignored and to Logan's surprise, he rather liked that.

"This is Erin- timeshares," Alex gestured to then only girl in the group, a petite brunette. "Juan's with the grounds staff, Esteban's a waiter, Jose's at the front desk, Jorge is in the store and Luke teaches windsurfing, snorkeling, referees the occasional volleyball match, you get the idea."

Luke ended up floating near Logan. A big blond water polo looking guy from Portland via California he reminded Logan of half of his classmates, '09er or otherwise.

"What part of California? Southern?"

"Of course!" Luke answered as if surprised that there were other parts of California to be from. "Newport."

Logan extended his hand. "Neptune."

"Nice!"

"So how did you end up at a Mexican resort?" Logan wanted to know.

Luke's answer involved a muttered explanation of a messy divorce and something about "insanely needy friends" and that his mother and brothers would be down for a visit sometime during the summer.

******

It didn't take much time for Alex's crew to become Logan's as well. A few more surf trips, two or three nights of club hopping in town, an aborted bar brawl and Logan was an official eighth member.

He found himself routinely waking up around ten, catching a few hours of rays, joining Luke on his lunch break at Esteban's café occasionally joined by Erin, before he hit he pool or beach again. Logan spent his nights clubbing, with everyone, surfing, with everyone, or watching TV alone in his room. He preferred the former options.

******

There was a girl. She'd been at the pool for 3 or 4 days. Blond. Hair in pigtails. Modest navy blue bikini. She was probably all of twelve.

She reminded Logan of Veronica. Made him ache with missing her. Made him ache with the memories of the good moments pressed against each other when she wasn't accusing him of raping her, taping her, or murdering Lilly.

Damn if thoughts of Veronica didn't make him wince and order a shot of tequila.

******

Erin swayed against him, dancing closer than necessary even in the crowded club. Logan didn't particularly notice.

The club was much nicer than the black-painted, Christmas light-decorated warehouses of Tijuana. Almost the way he'd pictured L.A. clubs.

"Being almost-legal is so much better in Mexico!" Erin crowed, still pressed against him but with her arms out stretched and her head tilted back. "Isn't it?"

For a second she had reminded Logan of Lilly, his dead, cheating, sort of-maybe not girlfriend. The one person who, of all of the people he kind of hated for ruining everything, he definitely did not want to be reminded of. He needed tequila. Lots. Badly.

"You're Canadian," he growled, forcibly removing Erin from his path to the bar.

"Yeah but we still check I.D!"

******

Tequila was an imperfect eraser of all the things Logan was trying to forget, was refusing to remember.

Lips and hair and belts and angry, angry hands. Broken bodies and haunted eyes and flickering images on movie screens. Drugs and lies and betrayals. Tequila couldn't, wouldn't wipe it all away and that pissed Logan off.

******

Luke's family arrived maybe six weeks into Logan's stay.

"With a truly delightful surprise," Luke grimaced. He, Logan, Alex, Erin, and Jose were clustered around the beach rental hunt Alex and Luke worked out of. "Remember the insanely needy friends?"

"Nooo," Erin winced in sympathy.

"You should have told me." Jose chided. "I could have lost their reservation and found them a place in town."

"I didn't know. So, yeah, the gang's all here. Fully angsted out and alcoholic."

"You have work," Alex pointed out.

"I'm not going to leave you here by yourself," Luke confirmed with a sigh.

"No. I mean, you're working. And your family's here. You really don't have much time to spend with them."

"Oh I see," Erin grinned. "Plus, there's us, and you can't abandon us."

"Of course," Logan nodded his agreement.

Luke shook his head ruefully. "Just promise me you guys won't let me get pulled into their black hole of drama?"

"Promise."

******

"I spent the entire night drinking 'fresh margs!' and hearing 30 versions of how exactly everything went down. I haven't even seen my brothers in daylight!" Luke complained.

"I'd forgive you if you wanted to spend your lunch hour with your family," Logan shrugged reaching for his rum and coke.

"Don't even worry about it."

Logan nodded and both boys dug into their food.

"There you are!" A guy with bouncing brown curls ran into the restaurant and skidded to a stop in front of their table. Words tumbled from his mouth. "Summer and I just had a huge fight. No. Worse than fight. Worse than huge. Like, ginormous. A ginormous brawl. Like I think it might be over, for real this time. Luke? What should I do, Luke?"

Logan watched his friend take a large bite of sandwich and chew very slowly.

"Luke?"

Luke swallowed, met the guys eyes, and said succinctly, "find Ryan."

"Ryan's busy. He thought I should find you."

The last time Logan had seen Luke's eyes glint with so fiercely was when they'd all been out and some guy hitting on Erin had tried to get physical with her when she rejected him. As he had then, Logan intervened.

"Take a hint, kid," even though the guy was his age or older, "this is a private lunch and you're not welcome."

The kid stammered and sputtered.

"'Bye Seth," Luke waved him off as Esteban approached the table.

"Is this young man disturbing you two gentlemen?"

"Most definitely, yes," Logan smirked.

******

"Has anyone ever told you you're kind of a jackass?" Luke asked Logan a few nights later at the hotel bonfire.

"Is this your way of thanking me for telling off that friend of yours? Aww, Luke I'm touched."

"No, seriously. You have these moments of… like, serious jackassery."

"They're few and far between though," Erin walked past and patted Logan's shoulder affectionately.

"That's a recent development."

"Being a jackass?"

"My moments of being a jackass being far between," Logan corrected. "I really… am not a nice guy."

"Of course you are," Erin smiled reassuringly, firelight glinting off her teeth.

"No. I'm a hardened bastard with no soul. Capable of murder according to my ex-girlfriend."

"Well I can see why she's your ex!" Erin laughed.

Funny how easy it was to shrug off the drama of his life here. With the lack of regular news, the absence of paparazzi, the unobsessive mellow culture. Logan wondered off-hand if he could have picked a better place to run away to and ignored the niggling voice that told him, again, that the right thing would have been to stay and deal.

******

Logan was bored. Coming up on two months and he had experienced every possible thing the hotel had to offer. Including seaweed wraps and that was not an experience he wished to repeat. Ever.

"Hey, Alex," Logan leaned on the rentals counter. "Know of anyone looking for a roomate?"

"Erin." He said without looking up.

"Hmm."

"She's also looking for a boyfriend."

"Not interested. Tell me about the roommate deal."

"It's a house. There are beds. Go away and let me get back to work. You'll be fine."

"'Later."

******

Logan had checked out and was sitting at the bar with Alex, bags at his feet, when he saw her. She was standing up by the lobby scanning the people sunning themselves around the expansive pool. Their eyes caught for an instant and Logan leapt to his feet, considering making a run for it. He knew this hotel inside and out, surely he could catch a cab before she caught him.

Logan sat back down and Veronica's hand closed around his wrist. Logan was surprised by how relieved he was to have her here, to have the decisions taken out of his hands. Literally, he thought wryly as Veronica tightened her grip.

"You're coming with me," Veronica stated firmly. Logan met her eyes and his stomach flipped a little.

"Okay." He stood and turned to Alex. "Tell Erin I'm sorry about the house."

"What's..?"

"I'll send you a postcard," Logan grinned wryly and picked up his bag.


End file.
